Yeah, as much as I've been letting everyone within a 10 meter radius of me know how badly I want to get to the valley before Memorial day, you'd think I would have made some tentative plans or reservations. But I kept being told there was "no way it's going to happen this year, sorry."

Well, guess who just asked me if we could take a long weekend on the 13th of May?

Naturally, all the reserveable sites are... reserved. Duh.

What are my chances of getting a spot in Camp 4? Are the predictions about sites going quickly the same as the predictions for TM (which, as I recall from last year's July 1st opening day weekend, didn't fill up until July 2, or later)?

Go into the reservation site and keep searching . Yesterday and today I've seen some choice sites pop up available in the next two weeks. And I was only looking at Lower Pines. People who made reservations 5 months ago are starting to cancel probably due to changes of plans, etc.

No it is not legal to buy them off of Craigslist. It is considered scalping. As the previous poster mentioned there are a lot of cancellations right now, in fact I just got one for that weekend a few days ago.

I think that might be a good strategy on how to get the campground reservation you want:

1) Find a Yosemite campground reservation for sale on Craig's List or EBay for the dates you are interested.2) Report that illegal resale of the campground reservation to Recreation.Gov3) Wait for Recreation.Gov to cancel that reservation, then snatch it up on Reservation.Gov before someone else does.

See, this is where if we were backpackers, we could just pick a trail, get a permit and do that. Not that I'm excited about camping in the valley over the weekend. I think I've mentioned before how much I really don't like the general public. Especially when there are lots of them around.

Maybe I'll pick a smaller, lesser well-known campsite somewhere else to spend that weekend, and see if we can do something mid-week later in the season.

Saw an opening at Hodgdon Meadows, so I took it. I know very little about it, except that it's off Big Oak Flat, north of Tioga. Sounds like Foresta area to me. My book of hikes has two hikes in that area, so that might be what we do.

It's an all right campground. The tent sites are walk in, meaning you don't have an assigned parking space and you have to walk everything to your site (there is a row of parking sites available and you park as close as you can to your assigned site). When we were there last year, we had to walk our stuff through the middle of two other campsites to get to ours (which was towards the back). It was a little weird walking through someone else's site to get to ours, but better than being the people in the sites we had to walk through. The tent sites were very close, closer than in the valley (we could hear people in next few sites talking, playing games, and snoring). It was a pretty quiet campground, except for the group sites (which were very loud). Some of the RV/tent sites seemed bigger and more secluded (compared to the tent sites) and I would choose these over the tent sites if I had an option (same price). We stayed three nights and used the time to drive to Hetch Hetchy for some hiking and to visit some family staying at Yosemite Pines RV camp (I did not like this place at all). I think it took about an hour to drive to the valley from here (we were in the valley for a week before we moved to Hodgdon).

I know a lot of people don't like the valley campgrounds, but I do. You usually hear about the bad experiences, which I have also had, but the great ones outweigh the bad ones by far. My husband hates the general public like you do, and he loves staying in the valley. I am the social one in the family

If you find an opening at a different campground you want, it's only a $10 fee to cancel your existing site (with at least 36 hours notice, see website for specifics). But at least you found something!! Yosemite in any campground is better than no Yosemite at all!

Quoterobinjayp
I think it took about an hour to drive to the valley from here (we were in the valley for a week before we moved to Hodgdon).

If one drives at the posted speed limits on Big Oak Flat Road, it should take less than 45 minutes to reach Yosemite Valley from Hodgdon Meadow Campground. (A bit quicker if one drives faster than the posted speed limits.)

Yes, it probably should take 45 minutes but I always seem to end up behind the RVs going 10 - 15 miles less than the posted speed limit, making the drive longer. And of course I am lucky enough to end up behind the ones that don't use pull outs! And since I am not the aggressive driver who honks their horn and flashes their lights in order to get them to pull over, I breathe deep, enjoy the scenery, and enjoy the longer drive

That's a major problem with the Wawona Road from Fish Camp into the Valley, but I've found that Big Oak Flat Road has sufficient stretches of road (marked with a dashed yellow center line) when one can legally (and safely) pass these slow moving vehicles (most of the time) if one is stuck behind them. So, generally speaking, they haven't prevented me from travelling at the posted speed limit too often on Big Oak Flat Road.

While still checking for campsites to open up in the valley, I'm becoming intrigued in finding trails around Hodgdon Meadows that we can explore.

Is the Old Big Oak Flat Road trail a big mess not worth trying in May? I've perused a couple of the threads discussing it, and I'm not sure whether we'll attempt it or not. It does seem interesting, though.

If you're staying at Hodgdon Meadow and want a leisurely hike through the woods, there are some old abandoned (or little used) roads that you can explore.

From the Hodgdon Meadow campground you can follow Old Big Oak Flat Road south towards (and through) the Tuolumne Grove. Or you can explore Aspen Valley Road off of Evergreen Road. These roads are mostly in the forest, so there aren't any really great views associated with them. Also, I'm not sure how much snow there might still be on the roads, though I suspect around Hodgdon Meadows, the answer will probably be not very much. Still, exploring these two roads can be nice peaceful hikes where you might run across some wildlife, but few, if any, other people.

I was staying up way past my bedtime last night, reading other hike descriptions in my favorite book (I do that from time to time) and came across a hike that goes from Big Oak Flat up to Cascade Bridge. It suggests that this is the time of year to do it since it won't be as hot as it would in later months.

I imagine Cascade Creek is churning right now. But the bridge is safe, right?